13 August 2006

Nothing can sound more cynical – yet be more valid - than Gartner’s Hype Cycle and its definitions of the progress different technologies are making or are likely to make in the market.

Take its "Slope of Enlightenment" definition. That’s when a market for a new technology is still developing even though the press may have stopped covering it. While the press rushes off to find some new wow factor, businesses continue up the "slope” experimenting to better understand the benefits and practical application of the technology.